


Kisses

by coootiesquad



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrien Agreste/Marinette Dupain-Cheng Fluff, Aged-Up Character(s), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Kissing, Miraculous Ladybug Love Square, One Shot Collection, Post-Reveal Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:47:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27475270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coootiesquad/pseuds/coootiesquad
Summary: A series of one-shots all leading up to the same thing. It's bound to happen one way or another...
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34





	1. warm kisses

She was leaving, shrugging on her coat and pulling on her boots like December wasn’t upon them. The wind howled past the windows of his apartment, and through the snow he could just make out the twinkling lights of the streetlamps below, illuminating a street too icy for cabs. 

“Marinette, girl, just stay.” Alya was saying from the couch, her legs draped over Nino’s lap like a blanket. “He doesn’t mind, do you Adrien?”

Adrien shook his head from his place in the kitchen door frame. “It’s no problem at all.” He looked back out through the black of the window. “Jeez, Marinette, you don’t have to go out in that. Just stay here tonight.” 

Huffing, she let her arms drop halfway through zipping her coat. “It’s  _ fine,  _ really. My place isn’t even that far.” 

It was a rare night the heros had off- no one with bad intentions would be out in the storm tonight. Things had calmed down since Hawkmoth had disappeared, the night Ladybug and Chat Noir’s identities had been revealed to each other by an unfortunately timed akuma. With his father suddenly moving to America and graduation quickly approaching, Adrien had finally dipped into his bank account to buy an apartment of his own. 

“At least let us walk you out,” Alya stood up and stretched, reaching for her own coat. “Nino and I should be heading home too.”

Alya and Nino lived in the building down the street from Adrien. Marinette lived almost 20 blocks away. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay?” Adrien asked. 

“I think a hero of Paris is perfectly capable of walking a couple blocks in the snow.” She finished zipping her coat and stood by the door, waiting for Alya and Nino to collect themselves. “Thank you for having us over,” she said as they were headed out the door. 

“Anytime,” he replied, wishing the formality in her voice could be replaced with the endearment that had come so easily to her when she didn’t know who he was. “You know that.” 

She smiled at him over her shoulder as he closed the door behind her, sighing as he heard Alya and Nino start the groundwork for a bickerment he knew would come up the next time they were all on patrol together. 

_ “Nino, I don’t know how else to put it for you, but cereal is not a soup.” _

_ “Babe, I’m just saying, the definitions are vague enough…” _

Trailing back through the house, his eye caught on something left on the counter; a pink wool scarf, carefully knitted with the same stitches as the blue one he had in his own closet. “ _ That’s Marinette’s _ ,” he thought to himself, and moments later he was hastily pulling on his own coat, boots and gloves before fumbling out the door, scarf in hand. 

There had always been things that felt unfinished between them. He was already with Kagami when their identities had been revealed; she was with Luka. And even after those relationships had run their course, things never went back to the loose, easy friendship Chat Noir and Ladybug had had. Marinette had dissolved into a slightly more relaxed version of her teenage self, and Adrien never returned to the flirtatious teasing he had pushed aside when he started seeing Kagami. No matter how he felt, the idea of pushing their friendship too far scared him. 

Only in the dark of late-night patrols, or the frantic chance meetings at catwalks, did he glimpse the glimmer in her eyes again, like the coals of a fire put out the night before. In those moments, when she smiled for no one’s sake but his own, or poked at his ribs only to stand and fly across the sleeping city, he felt like nothing had changed at all. 

Now though, as he was opening the foyer door and stepping out into the snow, he was praying that maybe something had changed between them. She was standing on the curb, coat snugged up to her chin against the stinging wind as she peered down the street, searching in vain for a cab. Footprints down the street showed that Nino and Alya were already inside again.

She didn’t startle when he came to stand beside her. “It’s worse out here than I thought it would be,” she laughed, her breath coming out in a puff of vapor in front of her. The wind was a little more settled here on ground level, allowing snowflakes to lazily drift down to rest and glisten in her hair. She sighed. “Sure is pretty though.” 

He smiled. “Yeah.” 

They were quiet for a moment, and it seemed like the entire world was holding its breath as the snow fell muffled to the ground. 

“You know,” Adrien mused, “I don’t know if I ever thanked you for that scarf you made me. Back in school.” 

She smiled at her boots. “How long have you known about that?”

He shrugged. “A couple years? It’s hard to say.” He pulled her pink scarf out of his pocket and held it up. “You left this.” 

“Oh! No wonder I’m so cold.” 

She pulled her hands out of her pockets and reached for the scarf with bare fingers. He frowned. “Did you leave your gloves at my place too?”

“No, I just forgot to wear them today,” she said, squeezing her hands into fists. 

“Put your hands back in your pockets,” he said, already looping her scarf around the back of her neck. “You’re gonna get frostbite.” 

Her cheeks were pink as he tucked the tails of her scarf into the front of her coat. “Okay,” he said, dropping his hands to her shoulders and holding her at arms length to look her up and down. “Better?” 

She rolled her eyes and giggled. “Better.”

“Good.” He let his arms drop and stood straight, catching her in the corner of his eye. “Bugs don’t do well in the cold, you know.”

“You’re telling me.” She was smiling up at him, and he was grinning back like an idiot, he couldn't help it. There was that glimmer again, or maybe it was just the snow, but he had to say it. He melted. 

“I still like you, Bugaboo.”

Her nose was red under her scarf but she pulled it down to her chin anyway. Gazing up at him, she let herself fall into his eyes for the first time in years. “I still like you, too.”

And in moments he was taking a muted step towards her and hooking his fingers into her pockets to pull her closer. She squeaked as she tipped forwards into his chest, bare hands brushing his gloved ones as they fell out of her pockets to wrap around his neck and bring herself up on tip-toes as his mouth met hers. 

Adrien never wanted to pull away after he brushed her nose with his, after he felt her breath wrap around his neck in a warm embrace. After she smiled into the kiss, like it had always been him. Kissing Marinette was everything he’d been missing. It was sweetness after nothing but bitter for years. It was warmth in the cold. 

They did pull apart eventually, and she giggled as she reached up and tousled his hair, damp with the snow. Dropping from her toes and stepping back a little, she peered down the empty street again, letting out a dramatic sigh. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to catch a cab.” 

He pulled at her waist, spinning her back around until her ungloved hands were against his chest, tucked into the warmth of his coat. “Good.”


	2. sudden kisses

“So.” Ladybug dropped down onto the roof next to Chat Noir. “What’s going on?” 

He had been off all day, and he knew she had noticed. Chat smiled absently as she settled next to him. The sun was setting over the city as the cars below them crowded onto the road. The golden light snared in Ladybug’s hair, giving it a purple tint as the breeze let it brush over her cheeks. Ladybug caught him looking at her and smiled, wrinkling her nose a little. He sighed. “I’m okay. Long week, I guess. 'Tis the season for busy schedules.” 

Her smile faltered a bit, eyes still crinkled at the corners. “Summertime? What schedule would you have to keep once school gets out?” She caught herself then, and the change from relaxed friend to professional vigilante would never fail to faze him. “Sorry. You don’t have to answer that.” 

He leaned back on one arm, gently nudging her with his shoulder. “It’s okay.” He said, smiling as she relaxed a bit, copying him as she leaned back onto her hands. “It’s work. I have a job year-round, but it kicks up in the summer and it kinda takes over my life.” 

“Wow.” she frowned down at the street. “That sucks. I have a job too, but I still have time to relax and stuff.” 

Chat blew out a puff of air. “I didn’t know you had a job.” He smiled teasingly and bumped her again. “Can you tell me what area of work it is? I promise I won’t go to every single museum in Paris trying to find a tour guide with cute pigtails and freckles.” 

Ladybug laughed. “Museum tour guide? What about me makes you think that would be my job?” 

“I dunno. You just give off that vibe. You’re very welcoming.”

“Chat, being welcoming is a key trait for  _ many _ jobs.” 

“You’d be surprised. What job do you have that you have to be welcoming at,  _ other than _ museum employee?” 

Ladybug hummed to herself and smiled, tilting her head back to look up at the clouds. “I work in a bakery. Mostly in the back, doing arrangements, icing things. Stuff like that.” 

Chat grinned. “Of course you do.” That was perfect. How could she work anywhere else? He fell onto his back, letting his legs dangle over the side of the roof and rubbed his hand over his face. “A bakery,” he laughed. “You have just given away dangerous information, My Lady. Be prepared to be visited by a very handsome, very busy boy who works in the fashion industry. Eventually.” 

“Chat!” Ladybug was sitting bolt upright now, her eyes ablaze. “You work in fashion? You have to tell me everything about it!” 

He raised an eyebrow. “Awfully curious, aren’t we?”

She groaned, slapping her hand to her forehead. “Sorry.  _ Don’t _ tell me everything about it.” She scowled. “Also, I’m pretty sure the whole visiting-every-place-I-might-work wasn’t exclusive to me being a museum tour guide.” 

He poked her leg, gently. “Don’t worry, I won’t seek you out.” She glanced down at him, cheeks flushed and eyes clear. Their eyes met for a moment before she glanced away again. 

They sat in silence for a beat, listening to the sounds of the city. The sky was a soft pink, casting a dreamy, hazy light over the rooftop. 

“Chat?”

“Hmm?”

“Are people really that awful? Where you work?” 

Ladybug was staring intently at the sky, but her eyes were glazed, which Chat knew meant she was getting stuck in her thoughts. Letting out a breath, he pushed himself so he was sitting up, arm-to-arm with her. “They’re not all that bad, I suppose. A lot of people mean well, especially since I’m so young. I think things would be nicer if I had more control. My fa- um, my manager is in charge of most of what I do.” He watched her brow furrow as he spoke. “But, you know. It is what it is.”

“Do you think you’ll stay in the business? When you turn eighteen?” She was still staring at the fading clouds. “I don’t want you to be unhappy.”

“I-I don’t think I’ve really thought about it.” He kicked his legs against the wall below them. “I guess I’ve been doing it for so long, leaving never really seemed like an option.” He frowned. “But, yeah. I guess leaving is an option.” He stared down into his lap, suddenly anxious. Would he even be allowed to leave? Seperate himself from his father, their branding? His breath hitched a little. What would his father say if he said he wanted to quit? “It’s-it’s complicated, I guess.”

Beside him, Ladybug took a deep breath and leaned her shoulder into him, the top of her head brushing just under his chin. He slung his arm over her shoulder automatically. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry,” she murmured. “I just want you to be happy.” She took another nervous breath, tilting her head slightly to look up at him fondly. Pink cheeks, blue eyes, hazy and quiet, flicking from his eyes to his mouth to his eyes again. 

She cared about  _ him _ . Being happy. 

She looked away. Her eyes never stayed on his long enough. 

He sighed, letting his head drop to rest his chin on the top of her head for a moment. Her arms came up to wrap delicately around his waist, now he could feel her heartbeat fluttering against his side. 

Her hair smelled like cinnamon and flour and vanilla.  _ A bakery.  _

He pressed his mouth into her hair, closing his eyes. The sun was almost gone now, a pink smear across the sky. 

“I  _ think _ I’m happy,” he mumbled. “I used to be.”

She was shifting in his arms again, unlooping her arms from his waist and winding them around his neck, pulling him closer into a proper hug. 

His breath on her neck, his hands on her waist, then briefly, her lips on his jaw, just under his ear. The sounds of the city muted below them. 

She pulled back a little to let her forehead rest against his. He caught her eyes for a second before moving to nuzzle into her neck again, but before could move, she caught him with her eyes again. 

_ Blue eyes.  _ “Chat,” They were so close, he could feel it in his chest as her breath caught. “Do you-”

And suddenly his mouth was on hers, noses bumping, breathing second-hand air. She was sighing into him, letting her hand slide up his neck to comb recklessly through his hair, sending a shiver through his entire body. She was nodding into the kiss,  _ yes, this is okay, yes, maybe I like you the same _ , and he was grinning, he couldn't help it, his arm was winding tighter around her waist to pull her closer, almost onto his lap. 

_ Her lips, her tongue, her breath... _

She laughed a little at their closeness, a hum into his mouth. He wanted to catch it, swallow it, carry it with him. But she was pulling away a little, his arm still wrapped around her waist, her hands still in his hair, she leaned her forehead back against his, breathless and flushed. “Happy?” she laughed, a puff of air, her voice in his ears. 

He grinned, their noses brushed, he was drowning in the blue of her eyes and he never wanted to come up for air. “Happy.” 


End file.
